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Speed

Michael Douglas

Michael Douglas (1944—) Academy Award-winning actor and producer Michael Douglas is a regular on the big screen, wowing audiences with movies like ‘Romancing the Stone,’ 'The China Syndrome,' and ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.’

However, just ahead of the opening of ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’—the much-anticipated sequel to one of his biggest successes, ‘Wall Street’—Douglas has been diagnosed with a throat tumor and will undergo an aggressive regime of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Douglas and his wife, Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, have both long struggled with an addiction to smoking. Zeta-Jones was deeply embarrassed by some 2003 photos that showed her smoking while pregnant, and she and Douglas vowed to quit the habit. Like many smokers, both have had several relapses.

Douglas’ tumor was likely caused by the combination of frequent alcohol consumption and smoking, a double whammy that serves to inflame and irritate the throat. The human papillomavirus (HPV) is also often implicated in head and neck cancers, although it’s not known whether HPV was a factor in Douglas’ cancer.

The actor’s prognosis is very good. It’s possible that he may be left with some residual hoarseness if the salivary glands are affected by the radiation, but radiotherapists try to shield the salivary glands during treatment to avoid the problem.

But if Douglas hasn’t yet succeeded in his battle against cigarettes, he’ll have any ally now. Radiation is considerably less effective if a patient smokes and it’s strongly discouraged....View full story

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